The number of children aged 4 and under jumped 11 per cent between 2006 and 2011, the biggest increase in 50 years.

Miles Nicholas Mendoza was born at Markham Stouffville Hospital on Monday. For the first time in 50 years, Statistics Canada has recorded an increase for the number of children aged four and under in every province and territory.

By:Bruce Campion-SmithOttawa Bureau chief, Published on Tue May 29 2012

OTTAWA—Canada has a new baby boomlet, according to the latest census figures.

The number of children aged 4 and under jumped 11 per cent between 2006 and 2011, the biggest increase in 50 years.

It’s a stark contrast to the rest of the story from Tuesday’s release from the 2011 census, which says Canada is turning grey.

Seniors now account for a record proportion of the country’s population.

Statistics Canada attributes the rise in children to a slightly higher fertility rate and an increase in the number of women — themselves the children of baby boomers — who are in their child-bearing years, between 20 and 34. The biggest increases in children occurred in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nunavut.

Ontario was a laggard, notching just a 5 per cent increase in this age bracket.

It’s too early to say whether this spike in birth rates marks the start of another baby boom generation, said Jane Badets, director general of social and demographics statistics with Statistics Canada.

“We have to wait and see how this unfolds. Demographic trends do take a while to play out, especially at the beginning in terms of birth rates,” she said.

Meanwhile, the number of seniors aged 65 and over increased 14 per cent between 2006 and 2011 to nearly 5 million.

“We see the growing increase of the older population, those 65 and older. They’re increasing faster than the working age population, increasing faster than children,” said Jane Badets, director general of social and demographics statistics with Statistics Canada.

The first release of data in February from the 2011 census showed that Canada had 33,476,688 people, a 5.9 per cent increase over the 2006 census.

Now, new census numbers released Tuesday by Statistics Canada on the age and sex of Canadians reveal more about the changing face of the population, which is roughly split between men (49 per cent) and women (51 per cent).

The story of Canada’s aging face promises to play out in the coming years as a wave of workers hits retirement age, presenting challenges for politicians to ready the country and its finances.

Currently, 68.5 per cent of Canadians — almost 23 million — are of working age (15 to 64). That’s higher than any other G8 country except Russia. But the numbers show that will change rapidly in the coming years. For the first time, there were more people aged 55 to 64, the age when people typically quit the work force, than aged 15 to 24, when people join the work force.

The population group aged 60 to 64 is growing most rapidly, suggesting that the aging of the country will accelerate in the coming years as baby boomers hit 65, Statistics Canada says.

“Within the working age population, here is the cohort of baby boomers, aged 45 to 64. Still a big part of the labour market but when you look to the future, we know they’re going to start to retire,” Badets said.

While the ranks of Canadians aged 65 and older increased by just over 609,810 between 2006 and 2011, the number of children aged 14 and under grew by just 27,505, a rise of just 0.5 per cent.

The number of Canadians aged 65 and older has risen steadily over the decades and now stands at almost 5 million, just 660,000 shy of the 5.6 million people aged 14 and under.

The numbers reveal where Canadians are working — and retiring. Parksville, on Vancouver Island, and Elliott Lake, Ont., had the highest proportion of seniors, topping 35 per cent — twice the national average. In a nod to the climate, seven of the 10 municipalities with the highest proportion of seniors were in British Columbia.

But the numbers also reveal retirement communities taking shape in Ontario with Cobourg, Tillsonburg and Collingwood all counting a high number of seniors.

The proportion of seniors increased faster in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. Ontario ranks just under the national average with 14.6 per cent of its population aged 65 and older.

Among the provinces, Alberta had the lowest proportion of seniors at 11 per cent. Overall, Nunavut had the lowest proportion of seniors at 3.3 per cent. Alberta’s younger population is attributed to the influx of young adults seeking jobs from other parts of the country and the impact of immigration on the province’s make-up.

Banff and Whistler ranked as the two cities with the highest share of working-age population. Wood Buffalo, Alta., was third, thanks to oil sands activity.

Canada’s big urban areas tend to be younger, with 13.7 per cent of their residents aged 65 and older. In the Greater Toronto Area, many municipalities adjacent to Toronto, such as Ajax, Brampton, Milton and Vaughan, had more children and fewer seniors than the national average. Within the core of Toronto, both the proportion of children and seniors were below the national average with a high proportion of working age residents, a fact attributed to the financial, government, health and educational institutions.

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